Over at the SMH is a wonderful article At Easter, the Poetry is in the Piety with diverse selections from John Donne, Oscar Wilde,  T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, and John Updike. Ending up Updike’s Seven Stanzas at Easter, the author concludes: Let us not mock God with metaphor, Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence; Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the Faded credulity of earlier ages: Let us walk through the door. At Easter, millions walk, if not through... Read more

I am an unabashed fan of Starbucks coffee. I know there are many Starbucks haters out there, but not me. I’m a homer for Starbucks coffee. What great joy I took recently sipping a  cup of Starbucks coffee while sitting in the Prague airport.  And having finished Howard Schultz’s recent book, Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing its Soul, my affection for both the coffee and the company have only deepened. Here is a list of lessons... Read more

My Crossway colleague, Dr. Alan Stanley, has a good little book entitled Salvation Is More Complicated Than You Think: A Study of the Teachings of Jesus (London: Paternoster, 2007). In the book he looks at what salvation/deliverance means mainly in the teaching of Jesus but also in the epistles, and covers topics like who will be saved, grace and works, faith and salvation, bearing fruit, can you be saved without loving others, can the wealthy be saved, on perseverance, and will God’s... Read more

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Messiah to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Messiah our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever.... Read more

This last week the prayer for the fifth week of Lent was this: Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Messiah our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy... Read more

Coming out in June is Four Views on the Apostle Paul (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), edited by myself, with Luke Timothy Johnson (Catholic View), Thomas R. Schreiner (Reformed View), Mark D. Nanos (Jewish View),and Douglas Campbell (Post-New Perspective View). Now some might be wondering why there is no “New Perspective on Paul View.” Well, there is several reasons why. First, the NPP focuses mainly on a view of soteriology in Judaism and on a few specific topics in Paul,... Read more

If you live in Queensland, Australia, make sure you come to this conference! Read more

Just read Chris Keith “Memory and Authenticity: Jesus Tradition and What Really Happened,” ZNW 102 (2011), 155-77, have to mention this amusing quote: [F]rom the perspective of social memory theory, scholars in search of authentic Jesus traditions might as well be in search of unicorns, the lost city of Atlantis, and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Not only are there no longer Jesus traditions that reflect solely the actual past, there never were. All tradition... Read more

On the TC front, please note: Dan Wallace now has his own personal blog, and Forbes magazine some more info from Wallace on the alleged first century fragment of Mark. J.K. Elliott has an article on Recent Trends in Textual Criticism of the New Testament, which is worth reading. Over at the ETC blog, I have also posted the beginnings of a poem on second century mss (yes, I know, the date of the mss are debated, blahcetera, blahcetera), but... Read more

This week I head to Prague/Pisek Czech Republic  for a weekend of teaching in the local church. I’m traveling with a very good friend who I’ve known almost 20 years, Larry Stratton. We’re going as emissaries of our church as both Larry and I are on staff. The ministry opportunity is unique and very exciting. What amounts to a Bible conference, we’ll be teaching through the Bible’s narrative over the course of 6 sessions. The purpose is to present to Czech... Read more